AKRON – In the final game of the regular season, the Tippecanoe Valley Vikings and Wawasee Warriors caught a glimpse of what they could be dealing with in next week’s Class 3A sectional at West Noble High School. Wawasee played without senior Gage Reinhard due to an injury, and the Warriors could not keep up with the host Vikings, as Valley posted a 63-49 win Friday evening in Akron. The Vikings (14-8) were led by senior Chandler O’Connor’s 14 points, which came on a 6-of-6 effort from the field. Fellow senior Alex Thacker and junior Neil Clampitt added 13 points each. The balanced Vikigns finished the game 22 of 37 (59 percnet) from the field. Wawasee (11-11) was paced by Alex Clark’s 17 points, along with Aaron Voirol’s 15. Not having Reinhard proved to be an issue over the course of the game. The Warriors made just 20 of their 60 field goal attempts in the loss. “Playing without Gage, who is our leading scorer and one of our leaders who keeps us calm, we panicked a bit,” said Wawasee head coach Steve Wiktorowski. “We were a little bit uncharacteristic with our shot selection tonight. I thought we took some tough shots, and that we left too many close-in shots unfinished or did not get to the free throw line often.” Tippecanoe Valley head coach Bill Patrick acknowledged the absence of Reinhard and noted the impact he has for Wawasee. “They were playing without one of their best players,” said Patrick. “He would have made a big difference. He’s a good rebounder and shooter, and he can play inside or outside. So that will be a big factor next week in the tournament, because he will be back.” On the boards, the teams were about even, with 32 rebounds for Valley and 31 from Wawasee. In addition, the Warriors outscored the Vikings 10-2 in points off of turnovers. That did not help the Warriors in the end, though, as Valley made several trips to the free throw line and made 14 of 20 attempts. Wawasee was just 4 of 8 at the charity stripe. “Defensively, we just did not guard the perimeter very well,” said Wiktorowski. “I thought their guards broke us down way too much and that we were a little late recovering, so I was a little disappointed in that,” Despite the loss, Witkorowski will use Friday night as an instrument to help prepare his team for for the tournament. “I tip my hat to Coach Patrick, they’re much improved from a film that I saw from them before Christmas, and I think Whitko is going to be the same way,” said Witkorowski. “But I think we have also improved a lot and have played really well in the last couple of weeks. We have to make sure that we keep confident in what we are doing and stay with it and keep our discipline a little better than we did tonight in tough situations.” The first round of sectional play begins Tuesday night, when the Whitko Wildcats face Wawasee at 7 p.m. at West Noble High School. The winner of that game will face Valley in a semifinal game Friday. There is a potential for a rematch between the Vikings and Warriors, but Patrick understands it will be a different environment, along with there being a chance to face a Wawasee team at full strength. “We play better at home probably than we will at West Noble, but it is a good Wawasee team, and it took a really good game from us,” said Patrick. “When they get Reinhard back, they’ve got three kids that can score 20 points with Reinhard and Clark and whoever. They will be a lot tougher next week with him.”
T. VALLEY 63, WAWASEE 49 Waw 8 14 11 16 – 49 TV 13 9 16 25 – 63 Wawasee – Alex Clark 7-20 2-2 17, Aaron Voirol 6-16 1-2 15, Stori Bright 2-3 1-2 5, Jake Hutchinson 1-4 0-0 3, Aaron Beer 1-6 0-0 3, Jayce Boatright 1-2 0-1 2, Parker Hatfield 1-1 0-1 2. Totals 20-60 4-8 49. Valley – Chandler O’Connor 6-6 2-2 14, Alex Thacker 2-7 8-12 13, Neil Clampitt 5-11 1-2 13, Alec Craig 3-3 3-4 9, Jared Littlejohn 3-6 0-0 8, Gavin Bussard 3-3 0-0 6. Totals 22-37 11-14 63. Three-pointers – Wawasee 5 (Voirol 2, Hutchinson, Clark, Beer), Valley 5 (Clampitt 2, Littlejohn 2, Thacker); Rebounds – Wawasee 31 (Clark 6), Valley 32 (Clampitt 8), Fouls – Wawasee 17, Valley 20; Fouled out – none; Records – Valley 14-8, Wawasee 11-11 JV – Valley 50, Wawasee 40
